The voters of Eastleigh should think long and hard before electing the Liberal
Democrats' representative

This has not been a good month for Nick Clegg – and it may yet have an unpleasant sting in its tail. If the Liberal Democrats lose the Eastleigh by-election today, his leadership will come under sustained pressure, both at Westminster and among activists in the country. The Hampshire constituency, historically a safe Tory fiefdom, is precisely the sort of seat the Lib Dems fought hard to win some 20 years ago, and must retain to avoid reverting to the minor-party irrelevance they once were.

The polls suggest that they will cling on to Eastleigh, which may give Mr Clegg some breathing space. But he does not deserve it. His handling of the allegations surrounding Lord Rennard, his party’s former chief executive, has raised questions over his competence and his judgment. For a politician who has in the past set much store by the need for transparency in others, he has been remarkably reluctant to display the openness he preaches. Worse than that, he seems to resent scrutiny of his actions by the media, adopting a tone of aggrieved innocence that brooks no questioning of his motives or his integrity.

Mr Clegg appears to regard journalists who have sought to uncover the truth of this affair as what he called “self-appointed detectives”. To quote Alison Smith, a former Lib Dem activist who has accused Lord Rennard of improper behaviour, they were “otherwise known as a free press – regarded as important in a democracy”. Yet we have to wonder how important Mr Clegg thinks it is. When the Leveson Report was published in November, the Deputy Prime Minister made a separate Commons statement in support of legislation to underpin newspaper regulation, something his Coalition partners had rejected. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make change the public can trust,” he said.

To see the folly of Mr Clegg’s distinctly illiberal position, one simply has to look at recent events. It was only the dogged work of Channel 4 News, and subsequent newspaper inquiries, that prevented the Lib Dems covering up this scandal now as they did in the past – to the anger and dismay of the women concerned. Shamefully, some senior party members have dismissed the whole affair as a Tory smear ahead of the by-election, an accusation that could have consequences for Coalition harmony.

The people of Eastleigh should think long and hard before electing such a party’s representative – or opting for the plague-on-both-their-houses approach by backing Ukip. It is understandable that some voters look from one party to the next and see little to like. But in Maria Hutchings, the Tory candidate, they have a feisty campaigner and worthy MP.